Astrazeneca (AZN) Advances While Market Declines: Some Information for Investors

Astrazeneca (AZN) closed the most recent trading day at $71.46, moving +2.26% from the previous trading session. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.11%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 0.91%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 0.82%.

Shares of the pharmaceutical have depreciated by 2.85% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Medical sector's gain of 1.66%, and the S&P 500's gain of 5.17%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Astrazeneca in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to be unveiled on July 29, 2025. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $1.11, reflecting a 12.12% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $14.03 billion, indicating a 8.42% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $4.49 per share and a revenue of $57.68 billion, signifying shifts of +9.25% and +6.67%, respectively, from the last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca should also be noted by investors. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. As of now, Astrazeneca holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Astrazeneca has a Forward P/E ratio of 15.55 right now. This denotes a discount relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 18.72.

Also, we should mention that AZN has a PEG ratio of 1.28. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.34 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 85, putting it in the top 35% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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